UPDATE 3-AngloGold sacks 12,000 defiant S.African miners

* Company sacks 12,000 workers who ignored deadline

* Strikers remain defiant

* Gold miner Harmony has given strikers Thurs deadline

By John Mkhize and Olivia Kumwenda

CARLETONVILLE, South Africa, Oct 24 AngloGold
Ashanti sacked 12,000 wildcat strikers who defied a
deadline to return to work on Wednesday, the latest South
African company to resort to mass firings after weeks of
crippling labour unrest.

Thousands of stick-wielding strikers responded by rallying
near the operations of AngloGold, the world's third-largest
bullion producer, saying they would not buckle under company
pressure.

"Can you see how many of us are here? No one will fire such
a number of people," one of the labour leaders said to the crowd
of strikers at the company's West Wits operations near
Carletonville, about 65 km (40 miles) west of Johannesburg.

Several companies have told strikers to return to work or
lose their jobs in a last-ditch move to resolve widening strikes
that have poisoned labour relations and marred the image of
Africa's top economy.

AngloGold had given strikers until noon (1000 GMT) on
Wednesday to return. The roughly 12,000 striking employees at
its West Wits operation failed to return, spokesman Alan Fine
said.

"The deadline has now passed and that means the process of
issuing dismissals would begin now," he told Reuters.

About 24,000 AngloGold employees - the majority of its
workforce - went on strike at the sprawling West Wits and Vaal
River complexes. Fine said the 12,000 strikers at Vaal River
have gone back to work.

About 100,000 workers have downed tools for better pay in
South Africa since August in a wave of strikes that has sparked
two ratings agencies to downgrade the country's debt.

The unrest has also left a black mark on President Jacob
Zuma's government. Zuma has been criticised for his handling of
the Aug.16 "Marikana massacre" where police shot dead 34
strikers in a single day.

South African millionaire businessman and one-time
anti-apartheid hero Cyril Ramaphosa urged ministers to crack
down on a violent platinum miners' strike the day before the 34
miners were killed, according to emails. (ID:nL5E8LOB0H]

DO YOU WANT MORE TO DIE?

In Carletonville some of the miners locked arms and other
danced the rhythmic "toyi toyi" dance popularised during the
anti-apartheid struggle.

One carried a sign aimed at the president: "Zuma, how many
mine workers died in Marikana? Do you want more to die again?"

While the strikes drag on, output suffers.

AngloGold said on Wednesday its third-quarter production
fell well below its previous guidance due to the strikes. The
company said it produced 1.03 million ounces for the quarter,
having earlier forecast as much as 1.10 million.

AngloGold is the latest case where the hardball negotiating
tactics have failed to get substantial numbers of strikers back
to work. Rival Harmony Gold has also given wildcat
strikers an ultimatum to return to work on Thursday.

Strikes have steadily spread since starting in the platinum
industry in August, threatening to further disrupt South
Africa's already shaky growth.

The strikes have changed the nature of labour in Africa's
biggest economy, Impala Platinum Chairman Khotso
Mokhele told reporters after the company's annual general
meeting in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

"Of course the strike changed the labour dynamics," he said.

"It clearly is changing the dynamics of the mining sector as
a whole and one could argue, in the entire industrial
relationship set-up in the country."

In another sign the unrest was continuing to spread, coal
miner South African Coal Mining Holdings said that some
of its operations had been interrupted due to a new union-led
strike over wages.

Gold Fields, the world's fourth-largest bullion
producer, sacked 8,500 wildcat strikers at its KDC East mine on
Tuesday after they ignored an ultimatum. Anglo American Platinum
(Amplats), the world's largest platinum producer, also
sacked 12,000 at its Rustenburg operations earlier this month.

The company said on Wednesday that 7,000 of its striking
South African employees had appealed their dismissal notices.

Amplats said last week that it would now be delaying the
dismissal process at its Union and Amandelbult operations, where
it employs 20,500 people. It also said it was open to discussing
the reinstatement of the sacked workers with unions.

Dec 8 McDonald's Corp said on Thursday
it would move its international tax base to the United Kingdom
from Luxembourg after coming under increased scrutiny from
European Union regulators over its tax arrangements in the small
country.

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